WWE Survivor Series 2011: The Rock and WWE Should Never Cut Ties

My fondest memories of The Rock happened when WWE was still WWF. 

I didn't just date myself, did I? Goodness, I hope not. I don't feel old yet.

At any rate, The Rock was all the rage back in those days. Nobody could talk trash like he did, and nobody could match his particular something (we now call it "swagger"). Us younglings used to imitate him all the time, which wasn't always met with approval when our imitations wavered into the territory that had us practicing People's Elbows and Rock Bottoms.

Fast forward a decade or so, and not much has changed, honestly. The Rock is still a bad dude, and he's as charismatic as ever. The only difference is that he doesn't wrestle much anymore.

Because of that, I have a feeling I'm not the only one who got nostalgic when The Rock stepped into the ring and wrestled on Sunday night at Survivor Series. It was his first match since 2004, and he didn't have a whole lot of trouble stealing the show. In fact, the crowd encouraged it. Better to see The Rock kick ass and take names than to see John Cena do anything, right?

Sure, like many people, I have my gripes about the way the whole thing played out. As cool as it was to see The Rock back in action, there wasn't much to his return aside from the fact that he was indeed back in action. There were no big twists, no big finales.

Presumably, WWE is saving these for The Rock's showdown with Cena at Wrestlemania XXVIII. If so, I think we can rest assured that it's going to be one for the books.

The question after the fact will be whether or not we'll see The Rock in the ring again. He does, after all, have an acting career to consider. Such things tend to leave one with little free time (or so I'm told). After Wrestlemania XXVIII, it could be a while before we see The Rock back in the ring, if ever again.

There are some who would be just fine with that. While you're not likely to find anybody ready to openly complain about The Rock dropping in now and again, there are a lot of people who think WWE needs to cut the cord.

Ideally, finally letting go of one superstar will allow others to arise.

Besides, it's not like The Rock takes WWE that seriously anyway. CM Punk spoke to the New York Daily News recently, and he revealed that The Rock doesn't have much interest in actually interacting with other WWE personnel. He just does his own thing.

"He's not around," said CM Punk about The Rock. "It doesn't help morale when the guy goes right from his limo to the dressing room to the dressing room to the ring. He's very bourgeois Hollywood."

Personally, I can't say I'm surprised. The Rock is kind of a big deal; this is why WWE doesn't want to let go of him.

Nor should it. We can talk all we want about WWE needing new superstars to fill the void that The Rock used to occupy, but it shouldn't have to completely cast The Rock aside in order to do that.

He may have hurt WWE by leaving in the first place, but he's not hurting it by making cameos here and there.

Regardless, my hope is that all WWE fans, old and young, can appreciate that The Rock is a true treasure. He's still relatively young and he's still in peak physical shape, but we're talking about a dude who has been around for a long time. In a few years, we're going to regard him in the same way we regard Hulk Hogan now.

If The Rock isn't a living legend now, he soon will be.

Hopefully, he'll still be making appearances a couple years down the road. I highly doubt that he'll ever return to WWE on a full-time basis, but part-time action is good enough. If nothing else, it will help keep his appeal fresh for long-time fans, and will allow younger fans to whimsically wonder, "This guy is a badass. Who is he?"

Yes, WWE needs new superstars, but it could use a presence like this, too. Goodness knows there are myriad ways the WWE string-pullers could choose to play it.

Ultimately, though, it's The Rock's call. He could very well choose to wash his hands of WWE completely, which I guess would leave him distraction-free as he shoots sequels to Tooth Fairy and Race to Witch Mountain.

If that's the route he chooses, fine. Should he choose it, he should know that he will be missed.